1. Field of the Invention
The invention herein relates to video games in which a simulated hand of cards is displayed and a predefined payout table determines whether the hand is a winning or losing hand and how much a winning player is to be paid.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There have been many variations of poker games in the past. One of the most common and popular is draw poker, in which the player has the opportunity to substitute or more of the cards originally dealt in an effort to improve the value of the hand.
All poker games, however, are defined by a well-known ranking of hands based on combinations of five cards from a standard 52-card deck. No winning poker hand contains more than five cards. Even where wild cards are introduced, they merely substitute for cards in the defined combinations and do not create new or broader combinations.
In the past there have been poker games which allow a player to be dealt more than five cards These are usually stud poker games, the most common of which is seven card stud poker. Occasionally, one also finds draw poker games in which more than five cards are dealt, but these are relatively uncommon and often involve the use of a second or additional decks of cards. However, dealing of extra cards has not altered the fundamental play of the game. Even with six or more cards in his or her hand, the player must select only five to compete in the game. Any combination of more than five cards in meaningless in conventional poker
The introduction of computerized poker games in which the player sees the representation of the hand dealt in simulation on a video screen and usually plays against a standard payout table retained in the computer's memory (rather than against other players) does not change this underlying limitation of the poker game. The number of combinations possible in a five card poker game means that, even at the lower value levels (such as two pair and three of a king), the player has a relatively low probability of having a winning hand, even though those lower ranked hands are the ones which occur most frequently.
It would therefore be advantageous to have a video game which would be similar to poker in its playing strategy but which would offer substantially greater variety of possible winning hands, particularly in combinations not possible in conventional five card poker, and which would also provide for a higher probability of winning hands at the lower hand values. Such a game would stimulate much greater interest by players, particularly casual players, who will find the greater variety of combinations and the greater opportunities for winning to be exciting.